The Ultimate Leg-Training Workout
Believe it or not, it is possible to get a quality leg workout without spending countless hours in the gym – if you know how to build a program that emphasizes the best growth-triggering exercises instead of machine-based isolation workouts.
For most of us, it’s difficult to plan a leg training routine that falls somewhere in between overtraining and not training hard enough, even though we’ve learned the drill when it comes to training all other body parts. So why is it so hard to get things right on leg day?
Well, actually, it isn’t – all you need to do is hit your legs with a decent-intensity workout twice a week. The problem is that half of the guys simply don’t bother with leg development because they’re too focus on their upper body musculature, while the other half get so stressed by thinking that their leg muscles are the most growth-reluctant part of their physique that they consistently overtrain them, thereby making things even worse.
So let’s sum up two crucial pieces of advice here:
- Doing a light machine-only leg session does not qualify as a real lower-body routine
- Doing too much leg work (for example, performing squats for 45 minutes before moving on to a 60-minute quad routine four days per week) will only result with stagnation and eventually, loss of strength and size
In this article we’ll uncover three critical ways to step up your leg game, followed by a superior two-part leg routine that will help you start making gains like a pro.
Emphasize multi-joint moves for maximum growth
A solid leg routine has to emphasize multi-joint movements such as squats, lunges, step-ups, leg presses and deadlifts. In addition to recruiting more muscle fibers, multi-joint moves help increase the production of anabolic hormones, so if you want to build some serious mass, forget about the splits that have you training legs one day a week and add more of these into your regular routine. In order to ensure optimal production of testosterone and growth hormone you have to hit as many of the biggest muscle groups in the body as possible, starting with the glutes, quads and hams. Not giving these bad boys enough work on a weekly basis is simply ignorant and irresponsible and is pretty much the reason behind your slow progress.
Optimize fiber recruitment
Apart from performing more multi-joint exercises, you need to hit your muscles from all possible angles to ensure maximum growth. This training wisdom rings especially true when it comes to the legs because your quads, glutes and hams are all composed of three or four different muscles whose fibers run in different directions and therefore need to be adequately stimulated for the purpose of achieving voluminous, well-rounded muscles that seem to jump right off the bones instead of muscles that have more resemblance with flat tires. Doing different exercises from various angles will have a substantial effect on your overall muscular development and help you finely sculpt your body, so make sure that your strength training routine entails a variety of exercises which employ different angles.
Engage the core
Most people perceive core training as synonymous with abdominal training, which actually is a terrible misconception that has misguided many fitness-oriented people. In reality, your core contains much more than your abs and in order to adequately target it, you will need more than endless sets of sit-ups.
The core plays the crucial role of stabilizing and protecting the spine and limiting excessive movement during all compound movements and big lifts, which essentially means that it’s impossible to build strong, carved legs without including a good dose of core work into your routine as well. It’s not uncommon to see bodybuilders with weak core muscles and it’s very obvious that their lack of strength in those important stabilizing muscles ultimately reduces the effectiveness of their workouts.
To help you put this knowledge about optimizing leg development into practice, we’ve designed a leg routine that efficiently hits all leg muscles in a unique way while working the core as well. Feel more than free to start performing it right away if your goal is to build bigger, stronger legs in the shortest time possible.